Method for producing a large round bale wrapped in protective wrapping

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a large round bale wrapped with a protective covering for permitting it to be stored outside. The covering is constructed of one or more layers of semi-permeable material. It is possible for an additional layer to be added to a region of the baler to be placed on the ground during storage, this additional layer resulting in the covering becoming essentially non-permeable in the region of the additional layer. A baler for applying the covering to a bale is disclosed together with a device for placing a visual marker on the bale so as to aid a person handling a discharged bale in knowing where the region covered with the additional layer of material is located so that this region may be manipulated into ground contact for storage.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a division of applicant's co-pending applicationU.S. Ser. No. 10/434,048, filed May 8, 2003 and titled LARGE ROUND BALEWRAPPED IN PROTECTIVE WRAPPING AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING SUCH A WRAPPEDBALE, which application is pending.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to protecting bales from the deterioratingaffects of an outdoor environment, and more specifically relates toprotective coverings for bales.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

One widespread method of storing forage crops is to package them inlarge cylindrical bales. Much of the appeal of this practice comes fromthe bales' inherent ability to shed rainfall and other elements.Contrary to widely held perceptions however, losses due to weatherexposure on round bales are quite high. In research trials carried outin the eastern United States, large round bales stored outside withoutprotection for six months or more were commonly found to experience drymatter losses of 30 percent or greater.

Numerous solutions to reduce these storage losses have been proposed,with various degrees of success. These solutions include wrapping thecircumference of a bale with twine or plastic net or film material,covering the top of the bale with plastic “caps”, or the completeenvelopment of the bale in plastic film. None of these methods work toreliably prevent crop loss in dry hay baling, but the completeenvelopment process has shown to be successful in baling high moisturehay or silage.

Concerning crop loss in dry hay baling, absorption of rainfall and/orwicking of soil moisture creates most losses due to spoilage, mold, etc.Losses from complete or circumferential solid film wrapping results frominternal moisture trying to escape from the relatively dry hay, thencondensing as it hits the plastic. This condensed moisture results inexterior portions of the bale remaining damp for extended periods oftime, causing spoilage in these outer layers. Such spoilage has beenshown to be similar to unprotected bales in some studies.

The problem to be solved then is to provide a protective covering for abale which effectively prevents crop loss from the environment whilebeing cost effective.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, there is provided a covering for abale which overcomes the problems of the prior art coverings.

An object of the invention is to provide a wrapping which will shedessentially all liquid water while allowing water vapor given off by thecrop to escape freely without condensation. Materials for accomplishingthis are commonly referred to as being semi-permeable and include thinfilms of certain plastics, micro perforated plastic film, Tyvek®,Gortex®, and other woven or bonded fiber materials. In many, perhapsessentially all cases, application of at least one wrap ofsemi-permeable material should protect the exterior of the bale of cropfrom water penetration while allowing the water vapor leaving the cropto escape freely.

It is another object of the invention to provide a bale covering whichwill provide additional protection to the bottom of the bale from thepossibility of ground water or soil surface moisture. This is done byproviding an area of overlapped wrapping material or other means ofmaking the bottom portion of the wrap essentially impermeable tomoisture. The permeability of some plastic materials diminishes with thenumber of layers and/or the thickness of the plastic sheets. In the caseof micro perforated plastic sheets, the permeability depends on thenumber and size of the perforations and diminishes with additionallayers because of the misalignment of perforations. Therefore, it isproposed that when micro perforated plastic sheeting is used, the regionof the bale, which is to be in ground contact, would be wrapped with anadditional layer of plastic with the combined layers of plasticresulting in a covering which is essentially impermeable to moisture.

When an additional layer of wrapping material is placed on the bale in aregion of the bale that is to be placed onto the ground, it may bedesirable to mark the bale in a region opposite to that to be placed inground contact so as to aid in the bale being moved, either by the baledischarge arrangement or by a device separate from the baler, to thecorrect position for storage.

These and other objects of the invention will be evident from a readingof the ensuing description together with the appended drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a somewhat schematic right side elevational view of a largeround baler equipped with a bale wrapping mechanism for applying acovering in accordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a right side elevational view of the rear portion of the balerof FIG. 1 showing structure operative for applying a visual marker to abale during the wrapping process.

FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of a control system for controllingoperation of the bale marking device.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a large round bale wrapped in asemi-permeable material in accordance with the principles of the presentinvention.

FIG. 5 is an end view of the bale illustrated in FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a large round baler 10 equippedwith a bale wrapping device 40 for wrapping a bale 100.

The baler 10 includes a main frame 12 supported on a pair of groundwheels 14. A tongue 16 is fixed to, and projects forwardly from, theframe 12. An agricultural tractor (not shown) would normally be coupledto the front end of the tongue 16 for towing the baler 10 along windrowsof crop to be baled. The frame 12 includes a pair of transversely spacedsidewalls 18 terminating in respective upright rear edges. Mating withthe upright edges of the sidewalls 18 are respective upright front edgesof a pair of transversely spaced sidewalls 20 forming part of a baledischarge gate 22 having an upper forward region that is mounted, by apivot assembly 24, to an upper rear location of the sidewalls 18 forestablishing a horizontal transverse axis about which the discharge gate22 is pivoted between a lowered working position, as shown, and a raiseddischarge position, for permitting the bale 100 to drop onto the ground.Cooperating with the fixed sidewalls 18 and the discharge gate sidewalls20, so as to define an expansible baling chamber 26, are a plurality ofbale-forming belts 28 disposed in a side-by-side arrangement across thewidth of a plurality of belt support rolls, some of which extend betweenthe fixed sidewalls 18 and some of which extend between the dischargegate sidewalls 20. For the purposes of this application, the only beltsupport rolls assigned reference numerals are lower rear gate roll 30and lower front gate roll 32. The belts 28, where they engage the lowerfront gate roll 32, define the rear side of a baling chamber crop inlet34. A crop pick-up unit 36 is carried by the main frame 12 in a locationfor conveying crop into the inlet 34.

The bale wrapping device 40 is mounted to the rear and underside of thebale discharge gate 22. Referring now also to FIG. 2, it can be seenthat the wrapping device 40 includes lower and upper feed rolls 42 and44, respectively, with the upper feed roll 44 being located forwardly ofthe feed roll 42. A wrapping material directing arrangement 46 isprovided for directing the wrapping material toward a nip 48 definedbetween the belts 28, where they engage a lower rear region of the lowerrear gate roll 30 and a wrapping material guide assembly 50 positionedbeneath, and having an upper guide surface in contact with a lower sideof a run of the belts 14 extending fore-and-aft between the lower reargate roll 30 and the lower front gate roll 32.

A supply roll 51 of wrapping material 52 is supported at a locationabove the feed rolls 46 and 48. A length of wrapping material 54 extendsdownwardly from a rear side of the supply roll 51, about a lower regionof the rear feed roll 42, through the nip of the feed rolls 42 and 44,about the upper region of the feed roll 44, and down through thematerial directing arrangement 46. Adjacent the lower end of thematerial directing arrangement 46, a shear bar 56, preferablyconstructed of a relatively hard synthetic plastic or rubber material,is mounted such that it extends transversely across the rear of thedischarge gate 22. A knife assembly 58 is mounted for pivoting about therotational axis of the upper feed roll 44 and has a knife edge 60disposed parallel to the shear bar 56 and located for pressing thelength of wrapping material 54 against the shear bar 56 for separatingthe wrapping material that is being wrapped on a bale from the supplyroll 51 when the knife assembly 58 is caused to move from its stand-byposition, shown in dashed lines, to its cutting position, shown in solidlines, at the end of the wrapping cycle or process. The length ofwrapping material 54 is shown at an instant just prior to being severedwherein it extends along the guide surface of the guide assembly 50 andinto the baling chamber 26 where it is caught between the bale 100 andthe bale-forming belts 28. While not necessary for the presentinvention, the baler 10 and wrapping device disclosed here areconstructed so as to respectively accommodate and feed wrapping materialwhich is wider than the baling chamber 26 so that the wrapping material54 is folded over the opposite ends of the bale 100, as shown at 62. Forthe details of such a baler and wrapping device, one may refer to U.S.Pat. No. 5,974,764.

Depending on the characteristics of the particular semi-permeablewrapping material 54 used, a different number of layers of the materialmay be required to obtain the protection desired. Further, in caseswhere the bottom region of the bale 100 is wrapped with an additionallayer of material, it is desirable to know the location on the bale 100where the additional layer of wrapping exists, so that the bale may bestored with this region on the ground. For the purpose of accomplishingthis, the baler 10 is equipped with a marking device 64 locatedcentrally between opposite sides of the bale discharge gate 22. Themarking device 64 includes a single-acting hydraulic cylinder 66 havinga piston rod 68 coupled to a dispenser for a roll of adhesive markingtape 70 having perforations (not shown) at evenly spaced locations alongits length to make tape segments that are separable one from the otherwith very little resistance. An end of a segment of the marking tape 70is exposed at 72 and is selectively pressed into engagement with thelength of wrapping material by momentary actuation of the cylinder 66during the time that the bale 100 is being wrapped. The cylinder 66 willremain actuated for a time sufficient for the tape 68 to enter the nip48 and then will be deactivated, with a coil compression spring 74located in the cylinder then acting to retract the piston rod whichcauses rearward movement of the tape roll 70 and the tearing off of theleading segment of the tape 70 from the remainder of the roll. The tornoff segment then travels into the baler with the length of wrappingmaterial 54 and is captured between the length of wrapping material 54and the bale 100 and serves as a visual marker 76 (FIG. 4) to indicatewhere any extra layer of wrapping material 54 is located. Of course,this assumes that the wrapping material 54 is a clear plastic or othermaterial through which the marker can be seen. Otherwise, the markingdevice 64 may be placed on the opposite side of the wrapping material 54so that the marker 76 is on the exterior of the bale 100.

For the sake of visibility, it is desired that the marker 76 be locateddiametrically opposite from the region where the extra layer of wrappingmaterial 54 is located. This is achieved by timing the actuation of thecylinder 66 so that the marker 76 is adhered to the correct location onthe wrapping material 54 as it passes by the marking device 64 during agiven wrapping cycle for being located at the desired location on thebale 100. Referring now also to FIG. 3, there is shown a control system78 including a first microprocessor 80, which is preferably mounted onthe baler 10, a second microprocessor 82, preferably located on thetowing tractor, a data link 84 connecting the two microprocessors 80 and82 together, and a power supply 85, which may be the tractor battery ora separate battery, for example. The first microprocessor 80 serves acontrol function and is coupled to a solenoid-operated, two-positionvalve 86, that when de-energized, couples the marking device cylinder 66to a sump, and when energized by a control signal, couples the markingdevice cylinder 66 to a source of fluid pressure. A switch 88 is mountedadjacent the path taken by the length of wrapping material 54 when thelatter is fed into the nip 48, the switch 88 having an element 90located for being contacted and moved by the tensioned material 54 so asto close the switch 88 and complete a circuit to an indicator so as toapprise the operator that a wrapping cycle has successfully begun. Atthe same time, a signal is provided to the microprocessor 80 whichstarts a countdown timer circuit. The time-out period of the countdowntimer is dependent upon the size of the bale to be wrapped, the numberof complete wraps of material to be placed on the bale before a partialwrap is applied, the distance between the nip 48 and the inside of thebaling chamber 26 and the speed at which the wrapping material 54 isbeing fed into the baler. A number of key pads 90 are provided on themicroprocessor 82 so that the information concerning the size of bale,the number of wraps to be applied, and the distance between the nip 48and the baling chamber 26, can be keyed into memory. The speed ofdelivery of the wrapping material 54 to the baling chamber 26 isapproximately that of the belts 28, which is determined by a speedsensor 92 located for determining the speed of rotation of the lowerrear belt support roll 30. With this information, the microprocessor 80calculates how long after receiving the signal resulting from closure ofthe switch 88, that the marking device cylinder 66 should be actuated toapply the visual marker 76 to the wrapping material 54.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 5, there is shown a bale 100 wrapped withone complete layer of wrapping material 54 and including a bottom region94 where a second layer of the wrapping material 54 is applied. This isthe disposition of the bale for storage with the extra layer of material54 affording extra protection to the bale from ground water or soilmoisture. If after being discharged from the baler 10, the bottom region94 is not at the bottom of the bale, the operator can easily determinethis unwanted position of the bale by seeing the location of the visualmarker 76. A correct positioning of the bale 100 can then be achieved byusing a loader, or other appropriate equipment, to manipulate the bale100 at a storage site so that the visual marker 76 appears at the top ofthe bale.

It should be understood that other ways of marking the bale 100 arepossible. For example, a dye sprayer could be provided at the front ofthe baler 10 for applying a marking dye to a desired location of thecircumference of the bale 100 prior to the desired location becomingcovered with the material 54, with the control of the sprayer beingsimilar to that of the marking device cylinder 66.

Having described the preferred embodiment, it will become apparent thatvarious modifications can be made without departing from the scope ofthe invention as defined in the accompanying claims.

1. A method of producing a covered bale for being stored outside, comprising: a. providing a supply of semi-permeable, flexible sheet material, the semi-permeable, flexible sheet material being one of a micro perforated plastic film, woven fiber or bonded fiber, the moisture permeability of which is diminished with additional layers; b. wrapping at least an entire circumference of said bale with at least one layer of said semi-permeable material; c. applying an additional layer of said flexible sheet material sufficient to additionally cover said bale in a pre-selected region of said bale; and d. manipulating said wrapped bale for storage, and placing said pre-selected region of said wrapped bale into around contact, whereby said pre-selected region is additionally protected from ground water and soil moisture due to the diminished moisture permeability of the semi-permeable, flexible sheet material in said pre-selected region.
 2. The method of producing a covered bale, as defined in claim 1, and further including the step of placing a visual location marker at a pre-selected location generally diametrically opposite said region of said circumference of said bale. 